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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – Six Supreme Court staffers led by public information office chief Theodore Te may testify against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
According to lawyer Larry Gadon, the high court staffers were willing to give statements that will bolster the impeachment complaint he filed against Sereno at the House of the Representatives.
Aside from Te, the other staffers were Sereno’s chief of staff Honey Oliveros, Clerk of Court Felipa Anama, Judicial and Bar Council executive officer Annaliza Ty-Capacite, Court Attorney at the Office of the Chief Justice Michael Ocampo, and Program Management Office head Renelie Mayuga.
They “can be considered as possible witnesses,” Gadon said. “They will provide testimonies to support my complaint.”
Working at the Office of the Chief Justice, they know various information on, among others, “the travel allowances and other papers that can be subpoenaed by the House if a hearing is conducted,” the lawyer said.
Sereno failed to disclose in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth the $745,000 (P37 million) “exorbitant lawyer’s fees” she received from the government, Gadon said in his 54-page complaint.
Her falsification of a Supreme Court resolution and a restraining order on two pending cases is also a “culpable violation of the Constitution,” claimed Gadon.
His other accusations include:
* Sereno prevented Court of Appeals justices from calling on President Rodrigo Duterte, favoritism and usurpation of Supreme Court mandate.
* Sereno obstructed justice by preventing a lower court judge from issuing a warrant of arrest against Sen. Leila de Lima.
* Sereno committed “extravagant spending” for buying a Toyota Land Cruiser worth P5.1 million and shelling out “P3 million to P4 million” more for bulletproofing it, and traveling and taking business-class flights, and spending P150,000 a night in a presidential suite in Boracay after attending a meeting.
Sereno is facing another impeachment complaint filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. If the complaints are endorsed, she will become the third Supreme Court chief justice to face impeachment, after Hilario Davide and Renato Corona./PN
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